ALA has deep-rooted principles in support of intellectual freedom. The digital information age has brought about new challenges requiring increased activity within the ALA Washington Office on legislative and regulatory/administrative proposals related to content controls and intellectual freedom.
Two significant areas of concern include 1) filtering and the laws that have attempted to mandate federal filtering requirements in order to receive federally authorized funding such as E-rate discounts and LSTA funds and 2) potential privacy and civil liberties infringements as a result of legislation such as the USA PATRIOT Act and the REAL ID Act.